Dachshund in Dog Show

If you intend to show your dachshund puppies, you should begin some time in advance to school them to walk on the lead and to stand quiet when ordered to. Much depends on this in the judging ring, where a dog who is unused to being on a lead often spoils his chances of appearing at his best under the (to him) strange experiences of restraint which the lead entails.

Actually this applies to all show dogs especially so in the maiden category.

During the past five and twenty years the names of two particular Dachshunds stand out head and shoulders above those of their competitors: Champions Jackdaw and Pterodactyl. Jackdaw had a wonderful record, having, during a long show career, never been beaten in his class from start to finish, and having won many valuable prizes. He was credited with being the most perfect Dachshund that had ever been seen in England, and probably as good as anything in Germany.

The black and tan thereupon went quite out of favor, and this fact, coupled with the reckless amount of inbreeding of red to red that has been going on since Ptero’s day, accounts largely for the prevalence of light eyes, pink noses, and bad colored coats of the Dachshunds, as a class, today.

There are, strictly speaking, 3 varieties of Dachshund

• the shorthaired
• the long-haired
• the rough haired

Of these we most usually find the first named in England, and they are no doubt the original stock. Of the others, though fairly numerous in Germany, very few are to be seen in this country, and although one or two have been imported the type has never seemed to appeal to exhibitors.

Both the long-haired and rough haired varieties have no doubt been produced by crosses with other breeds, such as the Spaniel and probably the Irish Terrier, respectively.

In the long-haired variety the hair should be soft and wavy, forming lengthy plumes under the throat, lower parts of the body, and the backs of the legs, and it is longest on the under side of the tail, where it forms a regular flag like that of a Setter or Spaniel. The rough haired variety shows strongly a terrier cross by his “varmint” expression and short ears.

The Germans also subdivide by color, and again for show purposes by weight. These subdivisions are dealt with in their proper order in the standard of points, and it is only necessary to say here that all the varieties, coolers, and weights are judged by the same standard except in so far as they differ in texture of coat. At the same time the Germans themselves do not regard the dapple Dachshunds as yet so fixed in type as the original colored dogs, and this exception must also apply to the long and the rough haired varieties.